


In Her Kiss, I Taste the Revolution - Twilight Reimagined

by giddyromilly



Category: Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Trans, Angst, BAMF Bella Swan, Bisexual Female Character, Butch Bella, Butch/Femme, Car Sex, Coming Out, Dream Sex, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Falling In Love, Femme Edythe, First Kiss, First Time, Gay, Gen, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Human/Vampire Relationship, Idiots in Love, Internal Conflict, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Sex, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, Trans Male Character, Useless Lesbian Vampire, Useless Lesbians, Vampires Are Scary Not Sexy, Wet Dream
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-02-27 06:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18733891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giddyromilly/pseuds/giddyromilly
Summary: Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington just in time to meet the mind reading vampire, Edythe Cullen. Edythe, unburdened by religious fervor, sees Bella as a challenge. Bella, fascinated by the macabre, sees Edythe as a hot piece of ass.Featuring Trans!Jasper/Bear!Emmett, Rosalie/Alice, Carine/Esme, Butch!Bella/Femme!Edythe and steamy wet-dreams in the red Chevy.





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [imagine what the series could’ve been if smeyer hadn’t pussied out of making vampires horrifying](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/479554) by eddieswan. 



It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.

Out of the corner of my eye they looked like any other ordinary group of teenagers. There were five - two boys and three girls. Boys and girls? No, that didn't seem to fit.

Now that I was looking closer, the childlike terms "boy" and "girl" absolutely did not fit the alien beings sitting across the room. One was wide in the shoulders and had hair like an oil slick. His arms stretched the material of his blue tee shirt, and he had one draped across the shoulders of the lanky male beside him. This boy, for lack of a better word, sported glowingly gold hair that touched his shoulders and was much smaller than the one touching him. His hair looked dry and crisp, like straw.

The women... now, that really did seem to fit. Of the three of them, none looked alike. The most beautiful of all of them looked like a volleyball player - long in the leg, with wavy gold hair almost identical to the lanky boy's. It too, while gorgeously colored, looked like it might break if touched.

While I stared, the golden girl draped one long, shapely leg over the lap of the tiny girl beside her in a motion that jerked more than flowed. This one looked like a ballerina - small-featured, delicate, almost impish. She smiled broadly at the leg in her lap, then began stroking it with one hand. She reached up with the other to carefully pat her black, spiky pixie-cut.

The last woman had her back to me. Brassy, wild curls flowed down her back to nearly touch the seat she was sitting on, and I could see that she was picking apart a sandwich with spidery, glass-like fingers. Her waist was hidden by her hair, but her hips swelled out into a pear shape. Her legs were neatly crossed at the ankles and tucked beneath her chair, and as I gaped at her she snapped her head, too quickly, to the side. More hair swung over her shoulder onto her back, and in that moment I caught a glimpse of a round, freckled cheek.

But their too-perfect features, their alien, jerking movements, weren't why I couldn't look away. They all looked how I felt on the inside - tired, grey, too pale, and starving. Absolutely starving.

Their eyes were like bruises in their faces, black and grey as if they each had been socked in the nose. Their skin clung to their muscles and bones like paper-mâché, like all the moisture had been sucked from their bodies. Cavities and lines seemed exaggerated on their faces, their necks, even on the bulky one. Their sunken cheeks and prominent collar bones reminded me of _National Geographic_ depictions of Ethiopian children, not _Sports Illustrated_ models. I felt an inexplicable urge to take each of them home and make them lasagna, if I hadn't been so afraid - afraid? why would I be afraid? - of them turning out to be sharks in meat suits.

"Who are _they?"_ I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten.

As she looked up to see who I meant, the brassy-haired one, the shapely one, snapped her head over her shoulder to look at us. She looked disinterestedly at my table-mate for a fraction of a second, then flicked her black eyes to meet my brown ones.

She looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, though in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, her face held nothing of interest - it was as if my table-mate had called her name and she'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.

My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.

"That's Edythe and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The tiny one is Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and her _wife."_ She said all this under her breath.

I glanced sideways at the beautiful girl, who'd turned her back on us again. Her fingers picked at her food with nervous tension - too quickly, too precisely. The others had turned towards her, appearing to be listening. A pit dropped in my stomach.

Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here - small town names? I finally remembered that my neighbor was called Jessica, a perfectly common name. There were two girls named Jessica in my History class back home.

"They are... very _nice looking?"_ I struggled with the statement, trying not to be rude.

"I mean, maybe," Jessica said, glancing over with an appraising eye and a conceding nod. "They're all _together_ though - Jasper and Emmett, Alice and Rosalie, I mean. You know, in a gay way. Plus they _live_ together."

I raised my eyebrows at the statement, as well as the judgement in her voice. I had to admit, though, even in Phoenix such an arrangement would cause gossip. "Which ones are the Cullens? They don't look related..."

Jessica gasped, then giggled again. "Oh! Oh no, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in her twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales are brother and sister though, twins - the blondes - and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children."

"They are now; Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."

"That's really kind of nice - for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."

"I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and her wife for some reason. Probably just small town homophobia.

As I pondered, Jessica nonchalantly took a bite of her pizza. "I think they just did it to have kids of their own. You know, them being lesbians and everything."

Whomp. There it was.

I frowned at her, but she didn't notice - she was cramming fries into a paper cup of ketchup. I considered turning to talk to the boy on my other side - Nick, was it? No, Mike - but thought better of it. Jessica seemed a better source of information. Plus, I wasn't quite ready to out myself here, and especially not to Jessica, considering her unforgiving assessment of the "Gay Way" Cullen family.

My eyes flickered again towards their table. They held unnaturally still, each couple turning to look towards the other. Their lips moved quickly, as if they were muttering sweet nothings to each other. The redhead continued to pick at her food, her head turned down to the table. Even among her family she looked alone.

I took a shuddering breath. "Have they always lived in Forks?"

"No," she said, in a tone that suggested that the fact should be obvious, even to a newbie like me. "They moved down from Alaska two years ago."

I felt a surge of pity, and relief. Pity because, despite their perfectly symmetrical faces and well-shaped bodies, they were outsiders, obviously not accepted. Their unsettling appearances may contribute to their alienation from the rest of the school... and, I begrudgingly admitted, the fact that they were gay adoptees probably didn't help either. I felt relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here, and that maybe - just maybe - I had more in common with them than met the eye.

As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked over her shoulder to meet my eye again, this time with evident curiosity in her expression. As I looked swiftly away, it seemed to me that her glance held some sort of unmet expectation.

"Which one is the girl with the reddish-brown hair?" I asked. I peeked at her out of the corner of my eye, and she was still staring at me, but not gawking as I did at her family earlier. She had a slightly frustrated expression. I looked down again.

"That's Edythe. She looks interesting, of course, but don't waste your time. She doesn't like to hang out with anyone but her family." She sniffed, a clear case of the sour grapes. I wondered when she'd turned Jessica down for a shopping trip.

I bit my lip to hide my smile, and something skipped in the space between my stomach and lungs. I glanced at her again. Her face was turned away, but her hair was tucked behind her ear and I could spy a lifted, freckled cheek, as if she were smiling too.

After a few more minutes, the five of them left the table together - the thin blond boy with an arm around the burly one's waist, the pixie-like girl almost skipping to keep up with Volleyball Captain's long strides, the lonely redhead taking up the rear with her skirt moving lazily about her legs. They were all jerkily graceful - each foot landing precisely, each knee snapping into place, every glance stopping a few times before meeting its mark - and it was disturbing to watch. As if mannequins had been given life.

The one named Edythe didn't look at me again.


	2. Metastasis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella has a near encounter with Edythe. Edythe's nearness is both intoxicating and too close for comfort, leaving Bella breathless, scared, and ravenous.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the song title. They belong to Stephenie Meyer and Soundgarden, respectively.

The day passed in a blur, following the staccato of my heartbeats and my memory of the Cullens' freakishly clicking steps. Students talked to me, introduced themselves to me, but I was content to let their names and faces slip out of my head onto the asphalt. Jessica was a constant, and her chatter acted as a pleasant insulator between me and actually engaging with anyone beyond the usual pleasantries.

The second-to-last class, after lunch, was when my brain engaged. Biology had always interested me, and my knack for remembering terminology and diagrams helped me enjoy it rather than dread it. Today, though, my first encounter with it in Forks made me reconsider my enjoyment just a tad.

Mr. Banner, the teacher, signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I breathed a sigh of relief, but found it stuck in my throat when I turned to see the only open seat in the room... right next to Edythe Cullen.

She was staring at me, face open, a slight smile on her shrunken, pale lips. I hadn't seen her full face yet, and being so struck by it now, as I stood in the middle of the aisle between two black-topped lab tables, was a bit unfair.

The bones of her face lent it a rounded shape, and if her cheeks had had any fat in them she might have looked plump. Instead they were sunken, grey, deep cavities in the lines of her symmetrical, perfect countenance. Though her skin was white as paper, and looked nearly as fragile, a light dusting of rusty freckles made her look more human than the average mannequin. Her deep black eyes, while ringed with grey, dehydrated skin, were wide and open and welcoming, though something lay behind them that I didn't quite understand. It seemed like curiosity, or frustration - maybe even impatience.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and finally took a few steps toward her, towards my seat. I ripped my eyes away from Edythe's piercing ones and dropped my backpack by the chair, then fixed my gaze on the space between the seat and the desk. I was so scared of barking a shin, tripping at the last moment,knocking over the chair with a clank -

_Be cool, Bella. Be cool._

It wasn't until I plopped down into the seat - letting up a puff of air - that I heard a quiet, nearly inaudible hiss beside me. I settled in and turned, almost cartoonishly in an effort to be smooth, to say hi.

My half-smile froze at the sight of her face.

Her eyes, once open and smiling, were scrunched shut. She'd shrugged her wild mane of red hair over her shoulder, creating a curtain between us. I could barely make out the rest of her features through the strands of her hair, which, on close inspection, looked frizzy and dry. In the shadow behind the curtain, her jaw was clenched, the pits of her eyes and cheeks looked even darker, and she brought up a trembling, spidery hand in a lightning fast motion to cover her nose.

The pit in my stomach from lunch dropped even more. I could only say, "Hi" in a pathetic, whimpering tone that was barely audible to my own ears, but one that Edythe responded to with a light groan.

I fixed my gaze forward, focusing on the back of Mr. Banner's head as he wrote something on the board. He spoke and spoke but none of it went into my brain, and for most of the hour I could feel the livid tension in the woman sitting next to me. It wasn't until I realized that the words were blurry that I registered the hot tears standing in my eyes.

_Stupid tears. Stupid eyeballs. Why is anger hardwired to my tear ducts?!_

I surreptitiously raised an arm and tucked my nose towards the pit, taking - what I hoped - was a sneaky sniff. Just fabric softener and my sweet pea and violet deodorant. Nothing horribly offensive.

Next to be tested was the hair. Maybe it had picked up food smells from the cafeteria? Another quick whiff confirmed that my lank brown tresses only smelled like strawberry shampoo.

_Maybe she has a headache. Maybe it has nothing to do with me. That's got to be it - I'm invisible. She doesn't know me from Eve._

As if she could hear my internal monologue and wanted to prove me wrong, Edythe's head shot up from it's bent pose and snapped towards me, her face lined with livid strain. I blinked and turned slightly, shaking my head.

"Everything okay?" I whispered. A quick confirmation of Mr. Banner's position assured me that he was engrossed in wrapping up his lesson.

Edythe's eyes, if possible, only grew blacker. Her already thin lips pressed closer together into the most angry line I'd ever seen. She leaned towards me, eyes locked with mine, until the strands of her hair brushed my lap. For a moment she froze like that, so still that I didn't think she was even breathing.

Then she inhaled, and I could feel the cool breeze of it across my collarbone. She shuddered and flicked her wide, black eyes shut.

"Woman," she said, voice so soft I could hardly hear her. "What a challenge."

Then the bell rang, and before I could even scoot my seat back Edythe had snapped to her feet - she was taller than I initially thought - and appeared at the door. The last I saw of her was a flick of her bronze hair disappearing into the hall.

The day sank into a blur again. My next class was Gym, and I barely survived it - it was racquetball day, and my partner, an eager boy named Mike Newton, soon learned to duck out of the way of my flailing racquet.

The final bell rang at last. I changed back into my street clothes, gathered my backpack, books, and paperwork, and began a slow drudge back to the office to return my slip. It had been a long first day, and I was ready to flop onto my bed for a quick cry. It sounded cathartic right now.

The rain was seeping into the asphalt outside the office as I stomped to the door. I shook out my hood in the entryway, observing the dozens of plants with disdain. _So much green. Isn't there enough of it outside?_

I approached the desk before I realized there was already someone else there. Edythe, betrayed by her distinct bronze curls, leaned over the desk towards the plump receptionist, her voice conspiratorial and low. 

I nearly walked right back outside into the rain, but forced my flighty feet to stay put.

From the sound of the conversation, she was arguing with the receptionist - not angrily, per se, but with the tone of someone who was used to getting what she wanted through sheer charm. After a beat I got the gist of the discussion - she was trying to trade her other classes, both morning and afternoon, to the ones _I_ was in.

"Surely there's something you can do? I really would prefer such a schedule. Bella makes for a great lab partner and I'd love to spend more time with her."

Before the receptionist could answer, a no on her face, the door behind me opened once more. The cold wind swept in, rustling the ferns, the papers on the desks, my hair. The boy who came in dropped a note into a basket by the desk, then left, but not before Edythe tensed again with a small hiss. She looked over her shoulder at me - god, she was intense - eyes bright and narrowed again, her jaw tensed shut like a vise. For an instant I felt a thrill of visceral fear, the hair on my arms standing straight up.

The look only lasted for a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind. She turned back to the receptionist.

"Never mind, then," she said hastily, voice low and soft like velvet. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And she turned on her heel without another look at me, and disappeared out the door.

I went meekly to the desk, face white instead of red for a change. I handed the receptionist the signed slip.

"How did your first day go, dear?" she asked maternally.

"Fine," I lied. She didn't look convinced.

When I got back to my truck, it was nearly the last car on the lot. It seemed like a haven, already the closest thing to home I had in this damp green hole. I sat inside a while, staring out the windshield in both dejection and confusion. Edythe acted as if she couldn't stand me in Biology, stormed out, then begged the receptionist to switch her to my other classes? Just to spend time with me? It was too much - I felt dizzy with confusion.

I shook my head, tried to swallow the lump in my throat, then started the truck with a roar. I fought the pit in my stomach all the way home, willing it to not turn into butterflies.


	3. Malignancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edythe goes missing, then reengages. Bella finds attraction where she didn't expect it. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the song title. They belong to Stephenie Meyer and Soundgarden, respectively.

Charlie sniffed the air suspiciously when he stepped through the front door, unholstering his gun and hanging the belt on the coat rack.

"Making dinner, Bells?" he asked.

"Enchiladas," I answered, smiling up at him from where I stirred sauce at the stove.

He shrugged out of his coat and loosened his top button, grimacing at - I suspected - the smell of spice and peppers. "Sounds good!" he said, too brightly, then climbed the stairs to change.

I should've known better than to try something so advanced so soon. Mom hadn't been known for her cooking skills, and her experiments were often anything but edible. Luckily I'd been born with the knack, and took over cooking dinner as soon as I could reach the stovetop. Charlie had nothing to fear from me.

I left the sauce to simmer down into a thicker consistency and turned to the shredded chicken on the counter. Measuring chicken, chopping onions and peppers, and greasing the pan all kept my mind on what my hands were doing, rather than the rumbling ball of fear and elation in my stomach.

For a while, anyway.

My mind's eye soon turned inward rather than out at the enchilada ingredients. It conjured up a collage of dark eyes, slitted with hate, curiosity, even intrigue, and projected it onto the back of my skull. I found myself dwelling on determining the percentage of reds vs browns in locks of curly hair, wondering how they would feel under my hand -

"Where'd you learn the recipe, Bells?"

I came to with a gasp. Charlie was there, in house clothes now instead of his uniform. He leaned on the counter and inspected the sauce bubbling on the stove.

"Oh! Um, Food Network? Guy Fieri is cool."

"Neat." Then he turned to trudge into the den. The sound of sports on the TV soon wafted into the kitchen and mixed with the smells of cooking.

I hastily stirred the sauce and turned off the burner. _Don't burn it._ I began assembling the enchiladas with trembling hands.

A short - too long, really - hour later Charlie sampled my cooking. I enjoyed watching him take the first cautious bite, then digging in with newfound confidence in my cooking abilities. The food hit the spot, but too soon my bed began calling my name _._

Charlie took the final bite of his enchiladas, slammed his fork down on his plate, and slapped his knee. "Well. School tomorrow," he reminded me, then rose with the plate in hand. He took my empty plate too and stalked to the kitchen.

_School tomorrow. As if I could forget._

The gentle sounds of dish-washing - clinking glassware, water running into a pot, pauses in between when (I assumed) Charlie laid a dish into the strainer - soon emanated from the kitchen. My eyes lulled shut, and next I knew Charlie was softly shaking my shoulder and leading me up to my room.

* * *

The next day Edythe wasn't in school.

I was painfully aware of how much my mind drifted to her in my morning classes - her striking eyes appearing between my own and the pages of _Wuthering Heights_ in English, her thin-lipped mouth pressing shut the line between focus and daydreaming in Trig.

Then, when lunch finally came around, there were only four grey figures at the Cullens' table.

The pit in my stomach turned more into a rock than a flock of butterflies. I tried to listen to Jessica, and now Mike from Gym, but it was easier to nod and smile than to engage. They didn't seem to mind - I was easier to be friends with when I was quiet.

It was like that the rest of the week - mounting tensions, excitement I couldn't account for, then a drop at lunch hour when her distinct bronze hair was missing yet again from the lunchroom. Dinners with Charlie kept their comfortable, companionable silence - me making dinner, him washing dishes, a grunted goodnight and then bed. I emailed mom when I remembered to - _Don't worry, mom. Charlie's great. The kids here are fine. Nothing crazy to report. -_ and did my homework on time. The routine was both comforting and boring me to death.

Friday was a final rush of energy. The school buzzed with life - excitement for the weekend, nerves when turning in exams and papers, chattering instead of muttering. I felt like the only one not excited to leave school grounds. I didn't expect Edythe to be there today, and the rising tensions were all but nonexistent. I felt dull, like a blunted edge.

Then lunchtime hit like a punch to the gut.

Jessica was babbling in her comforting way - "I didn't know anything about mosses, imagine that! Living in Forks and I had no idea they were that neat! Mike is so smart sometimes" - as we gathered food onto our trays and turned towards our regular table. I'd only just set my things down and taken a seat when my eyes registered five figures at the Cullens' table.

Edythe faced me, rather than leaving her back turned. Her siblings were engaged with each other, limbs crisscrossed, eyes focused towards each other, lips moving much too fast in inaudible conversations, and Edythe focused directly on me. Her eyes seemed lighter today - still black, but less enraged, more curious. When she saw me looking she smiled, and raised one thin, white hand in greeting.

I looked away, embarrassed. Too fast. Jessica noticed.

"She's looking at you today," she said, incredulous. How unfair. "That's funny, she's usually too good to notice any of us lowlings."

"Why?" was all I could think to say.

Jessica's eyes widened, then she shrugged. "Who knows?" She chomped on a carrot. "She's just weird. Lonely. But doesn't seem to care that she is. I tried to be nice but no, there wasn't going to be anything like that..."

My focus on her words trailed off. I looked back at Edythe, who was still looking at me. She smiled - a heartbreaking, wide, kind smile - and released me when she turned to speak to her broad-shouldered sibling. Emmett, I think.

I spent the rest of the lunch hour staring at my tray, picking at my food. Jessica went on without me, speaking across me to Mike Newton and indulging in my occasional "mm-hmm"s and nods. 

_Surely she couldn't hate me. That can't by why she acted so weird on Monday, or why she glared at me like she wanted to rip my gullet out. And it doesn't explain what she said about me being a challenge, or why she wanted to change her schedule to fit mine. But, why disappear for three days, just to come back and act like nothing happened? Like we're friends?_

I glanced back at her. She was staring at her hands, which lay on the table in front of her, the long, slender fingers interlaced. As I looked, her mouth quirked into a half smile. Her eyes didn't rise to meet mine, but I felt that she knew she was being watched. 

_Goddammit. Not everything is about you, Bella_. I told myself. 

"What do you think, Bella?"

"Oh," I said, snapping back to reality. "About what?"

Jessica's expectant expression creased slightly, then brightened again. "Mike has a plan to go to La Push next weekend. Would you like to come?"

"La Push?" I asked, looking over at Mike, who grinned and nodded. His eyes were very blue. 

"The reservation there has a bangin' beach," he said.

I shrugged. Anything to get me out of this Edythe-induced funk and out of the house. "Sounds good to me!"

"Sweet!" Mike said, looking eager. Jessica assessed him and frowned.

It wasn't until the telltale snapping gait of the Cullens registered out of the corner of my eye that I realized it was nearly time for Biology. "I'll see you later!" I said quickly, gathering my things. "Mike, see you in Gym."

"See ya!" he said. I decided he wasn't so bad.

The halls were nearly empty as I hurried to my next class. When I stepped in, everyone was seated, but Mr. Banner hadn't yet arrived. I breathed a sigh of relief and plopped into my chair. I was careful to not even glance at the redhead in the seat beside mine. I didn't even notice how pretty her floral sundress was, how it clung to her slender waist, or how pale her bare arms were. I especially didn't note the way she'd pinned her unruly hair up on one side with a yellow flower.

I was fully prepared to be hostilely ignored again, but Edythe surprised me. Her knees stayed turned firmly forward, but she didn't create a curtain of hair between us. Her torso even inclined towards me slightly.

"You're allowed to breathe, you know," she said in a low tone. 

I gulped a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. "Um, hi."

I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, "I'm Edythe. You're Bella Swan." It wasn't a question.

I finally looked at her face. She was smiling, and her eyes, while not hostile, were wide and careful. Guarded, even. 

"Thank you. Everyone calls me Isabella when they first meet me, but I hate it. Seems like you got the memo?" I winced. That sounded rude.

But she surprised me again with a soft laugh. "I've heard enough people talk that I picked it up."

"Oh great," I muttered. "They talk about me."

"Not overly so," she said, eyes creased and concerned. Wanting to set the record straight. "They say only nice things."

"Only because I haven't given anyone anything to make fun of me for yet," I said dryly.

Her face bloomed into a smile again. It looked different from before - fuller, maybe. Less lined, less dry. The sockets of her eyes and the pits in her cheeks weren't as gaunt or dark, and her skin seemed more luminous than grey. Her dress exposed her collarbones, her shoulders, a hint of sloping breasts. I blinked when I realized I was staring, and that I'd noticed she wore no bra. 

She smiled more broadly, then scooped up a yellow cardigan from the tabletop and put it on. "I take it off as often as I can," she explained. "It's warm. But here comes Mr. Banner - I don't want him to dress-code me."

"Stupid dress code," I chuckled. I meant for it to sound more casual than it did.

"Aaaaall right, everyone," said Mr. Banner in a sing-songy voice, swooping in through the door with the attitude of someone on a mission. His arms were full of little packets. He slumped and poured them out on his desk, then began distributing them among the still-chattering students.

"Oh no," I whispered.

"Everything alright?" Edythe asked. Her voice was like shaved legs on silk sheets.

"We're finding out our blood types today!" Mr. Banner exulted, dropping two packets in front of Edythe and I. "Open up your packets and pull out the test strip and the little cassette."

 The table blurred to one side in front of me. Blood types. Fuck.

"Now," Mr. Banner said, "take the cassette and press it, hard, against the side of your finger, like so." He grabbed the hand of the boy sitting in the front nearest him - Eric, I think his name was - and slammed the cassette on it. 

I smelled the blood before I saw it. I didn't even hear Mr. Banner explain how to put it on the test strip. I just laid my face down on the cool tabletop and groaned.

"Bella?"

It was Edythe, her voice low and urgent. I glanced at her and her eyes were blackest night, her lips pressed thin - but the crease in her forehead was worry, not anger.

When I couldn't answer, she spoke up. "Mr. Banner? I think Bella needs the nurse."

"Oh!" I heard him say. "Bella, do you need help?"

"I can take her," Edythe said, with all the conviction of someone who knew she'd get her way.

Next I knew her arms were around me, helping me to my feet, guiding me out the door.

"My things," I said weakly.

I heard a laugh like a brook. "I have them. Don't worry. Would you like to sit out here a minute?"

"Yes please."

Her arms, gentle with me but taut like wires, lowered me to the floor. She guided my head down between my knees with a hand that was pleasantly cool. "Try that. That should settle your stomach."

I focused on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. The smell was gone but the image wasn't - Eric's finger blooming red, a drip falling to the strip Mr. Banner held to it. Bile rose but I swallowed hard.

"Don't like the look of blood?" Edythe asked. Her voice was playful, and when I gave her the side-eye she was smiling impishly. It was a good look on her.

"Eh," I shrugged, "Not the look so much as the smell."

Edythe paused for a beat. "What? But - no, people can't smell blood."

"I can. It's like... rust. And salt. Turns my stomach."

She looked over me with eyes that looked as though they were appraising me for the first time. "Funny," she whispered, as if to herself. "I could almost swear... nevermind, I said I'd help so I will. You're going to the nurse."

"No! Just... let me sit a bit longer?"

It was too late - Edythe was already on her feet, a hand outstretched.

It was then that Eric popped out of the room into the hall, supporting a green-faced boy. "Oh!" he said, "Bella, Edythe, you're still here. Everything okay?"

My stomach did flip flops at the sight of his band-aided finger. "Edythe, I gotta go."

"Right," she said assuredly, hoisting me to my feet. Her skin was taut, hands strong, and they felt like smooth crystal instead of flesh and blood. The chill in her was like leaning against a window in winter - chill, but not icy. Nothing like I expected.

"Want help?" Eric called.

Edythe hooked my arm over her shoulders and all but carried me down the hall toward's the nurse's station. "No, Eric, thank you! You've got your hands full already. I'll take care of her."

"Oh, alright!" His voice sounded far away.

The hallway was shorter than it looked. I wished that the nurse's station was a couple buildings out, but unfortunately it was right around the corner from the Biology classroom. I somehow managed to relish the time I had with Edythe all the same - painfully conscious of her hair sheeting over my arm, the strange, inhuman firmness of her skin (why didn't it give?), the almost careless way she chauffeured me along, as if I weighed nothing...

"Bella," she said, hardly audible to my own ears. The way her lips formed my name was distracting. "Would you like me to get notes for you?"

"No - no I know my bloodtype. We've done it before in Phoenix."

She smiled. When she spoke, a puff of her breath met my face and I registered her smell - sweet, almost too much so. Like half-dried roses, mildewing in the sun. "I'll stay with you then. Make sure you don't hurl everywhere."

"The-the nurse can do that?"  _Don't go._

"I won't."

We'd taken a few more steps before I realized what she'd said. 

"You won't what?"

She stopped, arm still supporting me. Her eyes bored into mine, a line creased between her strong, dark brows. "Leave you."


	4. Malform

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edythe is helpful. Bella spends a fitful weekend at home. Monday brings ice-capades and and new side of Edythe. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the song title. They belong to Stephenie Meyer and Soundgarden, respectively.

_She can't have heard what I thought. She was responding to something else. Just assuring me that she wasn't going to leave me high and dry. Right?  
_

The nurse fussed over me, giving me water, saltines to eat, a blanket for my lap. Edythe sat on the chair beside the door, watching the goings-on with mirthful eyes. As I watched she started, frowned a little, then smoothed her face into an inscrutable expression. It was almost as if she'd been bitten by a bug.

"There's always one," the nurse tutted, smiling at me. She handed me a bottle of water and took the blanket back. "Feeling any better?"

Before I could answer, Edythe spoke up. "She's still looking green about the gills. Do you think she should take next class off too and get on home?"

The nurse blinked, then shrugged. "Can't hurt. What do you think, Bella?"

_Oh god yes. Anything to skip Gym._ "That'd be awesome, really."

Edythe looked about to laugh, but recovered as if she'd thought better of it. Rude.

The boy on the cot next to me, the one Eric had brought in, seemed a bit worse for wear than I. The nurse moved on to him and shooed us out of her station - me clutching a packet of saltines and the water bottle, Edythe carrying both our backpacks slung over her slender shoulder.

"I can take that, if it's too heavy?" I said. I winced at how my voice cracked upwards into a question.

Edythe just smiled and handed it back, watching with her dark eyes as I settled it onto my shoulders. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "Once I stopped smelling blood I felt way better. I'll probably skip the garlic in dinner tonight though."

"Do you cook?" Her voice was too bright. Too interested.

We walked aimlessly down the hallway. It felt like a different world between classes - empty but for blue light and flickering fluorescent bulbs above. I wasn't even sure if we were walking in the right direction, but I didn't care. We had forty-five minutes before Edythe had her next class. Before I felt the need to go home.

"I like to cook, yeah. Charlie's useless - if it can't be cooked on a grill, he'll just order takeout."

Edythe's smile broadened. The light made her freckles look bolder than I remembered. "You know, that's not your duty. You're the child, he's the adult. Shouldn't he be taking care of you?"

I shrugged again, suddenly uncomfortable. "I like taking care of people. My mom isn't great at keeping schedules, cooking, really anything that requires responsibility. I grew up fast to accommodate."

Edythe's expression grew black as I spoke. Despite our slow pace, her steps seemed more mechanical - less fluid - than before. "You're a _child,"_ she stressed. "But... I suppose they're lucky to have you."

It was quiet for an uncomfortably long period of time. I searched for something to say, but she beat me to it.

"You grew up with your mother. Why are you here, in Forks, now?"

"Whew, 20 questions time!" I laughed, trying to lighten the atmosphere. We approached the door, and I pressed through it to the parking lot outside. It was drizzling, the sky very grey, and my truck was parked across the lot. I pulled my hood up, and noted again that all Edythe had was her thin yellow sweater. When she followed me outside her hair darkened and dripped with rain.

"Would you like my umbrella?" I asked. "I don't want you to catch a cold."

She shrugged, turning a bright smile to the sky. "I like the rain. But thank you. Also, you didn't answer the question."

Edythe turned her eyes on me again, a teasing smile bringing out a dimple on her chin. The rain moistened her skin and clung to her lashes, but didn't wash any eyeliner or mascara away. She was barefaced, then. How unfair, to look so gorgeous without a spot of makeup.

My shoulders rose towards my ears, and I tucked my thumbs under the straps of my backpack. "Oh, I lived with my mom since I was a baby. In Phoenix, in case I didn't mention that before. I spent summers here with Charlie until a few years ago. And, well, mom remarried."

Edythe's brows drew together. I looked down to avoid a puddle.

"Phil's a nice guy," I went on. "Plays baseball. He travels a lot, and for a little while my mom would stay home with me when he was gone. But she missed him so much. I didn't want to be the one to get between them. So I came here... to Charlie."

"And you're unhappy." Again, it wasn't a question.

I fumbled with my key and unlocked my truck door, then went around and got the other one. The rain had intensified in our traipse across the parking lot, and Edythe's clothes clung to her. I motioned into the passenger side of my truck. "Want to sit a bit? I don't need to go home right away."

She smiled at me, and it was like the sun had broken through the clouds. She bounded in, and as she passed me I detected a slight clicking of joints and her soft, sickly smell of mildewed roses. I shut the door and clomped around to my side, swung my body into the seat, and shut myself in.

The rain pattered on the roof, but it was dry in here. The seats smelled of tobacco and peppermint, and Edythe's scent was more concentrated inside the cab than it had been outside. I pried my backpack off and laid it on the floor, and watched as she did the same. Even sitting, she was considerably taller than I - her thinness was deceiving. She unpinned the flower from her hair, put it in the pocket of her backpack, and ran her fingers through her curls, sweeping them together into ringlets instead of frizzed disaster. As if that hair could ever be a disaster...

"I'm not unhappy," I said. "But I miss Phoenix. I miss the warmth, the dry air. The smell of the desert."

She continued combing her hair with her hands, but her expression grew sad.

"I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. I feel as if I've hardly spoken a word since I came here."

She glanced up at me. "Maybe that's why. I'm a stranger, with no investment in you as a person, and that makes it acceptable to share. You can't tell this to Charlie, because he'd regret the position he put you in, and you can't tell your mother, because she'd be saddled with guilt. But Bella - "

_God, I love it when she says my name._

" - you're sacrificing your happiness so that your mother can be happy. How is that fair?"

I looked at my hands and picked at the cuticle on my left thumb. "I guess I'm content if others are happy. Content is good enough for me."

_Why was I explaining myself? Justifying my decisions to her, of all people?_

"You don't need to justify yourself to me," she said, as if she read my mind (how astute of her). "I apologize for prying."

I jerked one shoulder into a shrug. "Eh, it's alright. It's nice to let it out."

We both stared out the windshield at the rain, watching it form rivulets on the glass. My side of the window had started to fog up, but hers remained clear.

"What if we did something? Together I mean." Her voice was small. She'd been so confident up to this point, only to turn mousy at... that?

I realized I was smiling. "That might be fun. Um... Jessica and Mike are putting together a beach day next weekend. Would you like to come?"

She smoothed the skirt of her dress against her legs. It had started to dry, but I could still see the outline of her body under it. I found myself obsessed with how the neckline dipped, how her loose breasts perked against the filmy cotton, how I could barely spot the raised outline of a nipple under a printed daisy -

"That's kind of them," she said. Her cheek curved. "The weather should be nice for it. Are you sure they wouldn't mind if I came?"

I thought about Jessica's snide comments and daggered looks. "No, not at all. It'll be on the La Push beach by the reservation, so we won't have far to go."

Her hand twitched. "You know, I think Esme asked me to help paint the rec room that weekend." She glanced up at me, an apology in her eyes. "Esme's my mother. One of them anyway - Carine is the doctor here in town."

"You call them by their first names?" I tried to hide my disappointment under a tone of surprise.

She snorted. "You call your father Charlie. And I'm adopted, remember? I love them dearly, and they're family, but we all prefer to avoid honorifics."

"Huh." It was my turn to be shy. I had no clue what to say next.

Edythe leaned close to me then, almost intoxicatingly so. I took a sharp breath, and spotted the flower in her hand. She looked askance with her eyes, a mere foot from mine.

"May I?"

I didn't know what she wanted, and I didn't care. I just nodded and leaned in.

She lowered my hood to my shoulders, her fingers agile and quick. Then she smoothed my hair back behind my right ear, gave it a twist, and pinned the flower in place. She traced the shell of my ear with her thumb, skin cool and firm, then pulled it away. "It's not a _real_ flower," she said, her cool breath puffing against my cheek. "But it's supposed to be a sunflower. We'll say it's brittlebush, so each time you wear it you'll think of Arizona."

I put a trembling hand to the fabric petals. "I don't know what to say. How did you - "

"Rosalie and I are fascinated with plants," she said with a crooked smile. "You should see the planter boxes at home - anything that won't grow in the wet we bring inside. Esme was kind enough to design a greenhouse for us so we can control the climate better."

I shook my head, searching for words.

"It's nice to be able to keep something alive," Edythe finished, smile fading.

My reaction surprised even me. Without thinking, I threw my arms around her, bringing her close in a hug. "Thank you - "

She jolted back, yelping in surprise. Before I could blink, she'd yanked the passenger door open and lurched out onto the asphalt, wild curls swinging. She swung around, eyes black and deadly.

_"Don't_ you touch me," she hissed.

Then she disappeared among the parked cars, leaving only the open door and the flower in my hair to show she'd been there at all.

* * *

My weekend was boring as fuck. I should've known it would be - the time dragged, Charlie left to go fishing, and all I had to keep me company were my books and my assignments.

I also managed to pick apart everything Edythe had ever said, done, or worn in my head. I mulled her over as I emailed platitudes to Mom - _I've made a couple friends, and there's one who's nice sometimes but really perplexing the rest of the time -_ and wrote a paper on _Wuthering Heights_. I kept the flower she gave me on my nightstand, and often found myself carrying it around, rubbing the fabric petals between my fingers. It still smelled slightly of her.

On Sundays Charlie liked to watch TV. I found myself curled up in an armchair across from him for most of the day, a copy of _Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince_ open in my lap. We didn't speak much, besides me telling him about the La Push trip and him describing the fishing trip from the day before. I enjoyed what he had to say when he said it, and he seemed to know when words weren't necessary anymore. I'd forgotten how nice it was to live with him.

Sunday night I nearly fell asleep working on Trig homework, so I tucked myself into bed early. I stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling, both excited and nervous about the next day, until my eyes drifted shut.

Charlie was already gone when I woke. I hustled into my favorite pair of jeans, a Muse tee shirt, and green flannel, then clomped down the stairs in my stocking feet. I thrust my feet into my boots and carefully double-knotted the laces - _don't you trip today, Bella_ \- and finally glanced out the window.

The driveway, the leaves on the trees, and my truck all glistened in the light from the rising sun. Ice.

"Well shit," I muttered, then threw on my jacket and backpack before venturing out.

I wasn't exactly sure-footed, but I managed to make it to my truck without slipping. The beast started up with a roar, and I managed to creep it along to school without a mishap.

It wasn't until I hopped out of the driver's seat that I spotted the chains on my tires. I closed the door, eyes welling up, and realized that Charlie must have been up before dawn to put these on for me. The fact that he'd thought so far ahead made my throat grow tight.

Suddenly, a horrible screeching ripped through the frosty air. I whipped around at the sound, only to see a blue van, tires locked, skidding across the skating rink of a parking lot.

In that moment the world froze, and I saw only the van and the white faces of the students around me, mouths open in horror. Three cars down, the Cullens stood by a silver Volvo. Edythe was among them, her eyes wide and teeth bared in a grimace.

The van closed in like one end of a vise, the other end being my truck - and there I stood, right in the middle, about to be the mayo on this crunchy car sandwich. I barely had time to close my eyes.

It was then that, instead of the impending impact of the van, I was knocked aside by something small and hard. The delayed crash of the blue van erupted from somewhere near my left ear, and for a brief moment I thought I'd made it out alive. Then, from somewhere over my head, I heard a low, spitting oath, and another, new crunching sound barked immediately in front of my nose.

My eyes flew open as I hit the ground, my head taking a brisk knock against the pavement before I brought it up again. I was pinned, but not by the cars - Edythe Cullen crouched over me, her slim arm clutching me to her side, one hand fitting directly into a dent in the blue van not a foot from where my head used to be.

There was silence, but only for a moment. Screaming filled the air, and suddenly there were a dozen hands pulling, grasping, prying the car away, picking us up, patting us over to find any blood or broken bones. Edythe loosened her grip on me only when someone shouted, "Tyler! Get him out! He's still in the van! Someone call an ambulance!"

I could only stare at her, mouth open. "Edythe you - you just - "

She turned her eyes on me, mouth slitted shut, brows nearly meeting. "I _what?!_ I did what anyone else would do."

Before I could say anything else I was being carted away. Mr. Banner had somehow begun to manage the ruckus, directing students to help Tyler out of the van. He was bleeding heavily from his head, but I saw no more than that after the ambulance wheeled up and I was manhandled onto a gurney. I tried to protest - "I'm fine, I barely hit my head" - but Edythe was there to claim that I was concussed, I was barely intelligible, I needed to be examined, etc.

I wanted to strangle her.

The last I saw was her worried glare as the ambulance doors swung shut.


	5. Merit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella keeps a secret. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. *gestures at everything*

Paramedics fussed - lights flashed in my eyes - people shouted. The hospital doors banged. I was wheeled into the ER and curtains were drawn around me, only to be pushed aside by a slender white hand once more.

"Edythe," I said in a strangled voice. "I swear to god - "

The figure who followed behind her stopped my breath in my throat.

She wore green scrubs with a white coat slung over them, and her brittle blond hair was swept back into a ponytail. Her face was gaunt, grey, tired - but somehow full of concern and kindness. She had Edythe's black eyes, and when she smiled at me I felt warmth flow to my core.

"I heard you got into quite the pickle, Miss Swan," Dr. Carine Cullen said. Gloves snapped onto her hands, and she shone the light from a tiny pen-light into my eyes. "You seem in order, though - maybe just a slight concussion."

She reached behind to slide her fingertips along my scalp. She stopped when I winced, then proceeded more gently. "Feeling a bit tender there? You're not bleeding."

I nodded. Her cool fingers felt nice. "I just clonked it is all. Edythe could have told you that."

I'd hoped she would shrink under my glare, but Edythe only playfully narrowed her eyes back. "I thought it best to leave the assessment to a professional, Bella," she said. "In any case, your confusion earlier worried me."

"Confusion?" Dr. Cullen looked closer into my eyes. "Bella, are you having balance problems, seeing black spots or flashing lights...?"

"Balance problems, always," I said, glaring at Edythe again. "But I'm not confused. I thought I saw Edythe across the parking lot before the accident. But then she was there pushing me out of the way, faster than could be poss - "

Dr. Cullen had been staring at Edythe for most of my explanation, but swiftly turned and shut me down with, "Edythe has explained. She was standing beside you, remember? That's how she pushed you out of the way."

"No no, I distinctly remember - "

"Bella." Edythe's voice was low and cold. She'd folded her arms tightly across her body, and she started to sway back and forth in agitation. "You're just not remembering clearly. Please just relax and trust us."

I felt anything but relaxed, but before I could protest I heard a barking voice from behind the curtain.

"Bella! Where's my girl?"

Charlie.

He came whipping around the corner where the curtain met the wall. His face was furrowed and even his mustache seemed to bristle with indignant worry. "Bella, I swear. I put those chains on for a reason! I just - "

Dr. Cullen put a hand on his shoulder, and Charlie seemed to calm down immediately. "Doc, sorry to burst in like this, but you know - " he sputtered.

"No need to apologize," Dr. Cullen said. "I completely understand. She _is_ your daughter after all!"

He nodded gruffly, then clasped me in a ginger hug. He seemed afraid of breaking me.

I held him back tightly. "Love you, dad."

"Mmmph." He gave me a squeeze. "Love you too, kid."

He rose. "Can she come home?"

Dr. Cullen nodded. "She's no worse off than if she'd had a dodge-ball incident in Gym. I'll fill out all the paperwork and get her discharged."

Charlie gave her a firm handshake, then registered Edythe standing back against the curtain. "I heard you pulled some miraculous rescue attempt, according to some of those kids out in the waiting room. Pushed my Bells out of the way?"

Edythe only looked at me with wide eyes. Carine was silent too.

"Oh - " I stuttered. "Yeah. Luckily she was standing right by me. She's got quick reflexes I guess."

The two women almost imperceptibly relaxed. Charlie just smiled and shook Edythe's hand too. "Thank you, Edythe. We're lucky Bells has such good friends."

He then turned to me. "So um... let's get you home. Tyler is in the cot next door but seems to be doing alright. You can say hi to him and the other kids on the way out."

My stomach dropped. "How many are here?!"

Dr. Cullen chuckled. "I dare say the whole school is in my waiting room. They were worried about you and Tyler."

I groaned, but got to my feet and took Charlie's hand. He led me out, one arm around my shoulder - we waved to Tyler in passing, who had a bandage about his head. Nurses were attending him, but he looked mostly okay.

"God I'm so sorry, Bella," he said. "There was nothing I could do! I just took that turn too fast - "

"Hey!" Charlie barked. "Watch it kid. You're lucky it wasn't worse." Tyler shrank, and Charlie's face softened. "But hey, all's well that ends well. Just be more careful in the future."

"Yes, Chief Swan."

From there we battled nurses and Fork High students to the front door. Many of them expressed relief at me being in one piece, but most stayed focused on seeing Tyler. Thank god.

It wasn't until Charlie had loaded me up into his cruiser that I realized I had never said goodbye to Edythe. I hadn't even thanked her for saving my life.


	6. Manifold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella dreams.

Charlie, as always, was sensitive to my need for alone time. After making one jab (and one jab only) about how he was relieved I'd found a friend, he left me in my room with a book and a hospital grade ice pack.

_Friend._ I mean, I guess Edythe was my friend? Maybe?

My fluffy blanket encased me in a warm cocoon and lured me towards sleep, but I continued to thumb through _Inkheart_ and neglected to retain any of the words. My mind kept drifting to the day before, when we sat in my truck, water dripping off my jacket and from the hem of her dress, how her translucent skin looked while wet...

* * *

The truck was running this time. Warm air puffed from the vents, drying our wet clothes, and the windshield looked foggy on my side of the cab. The world beyond the windows seemed fuzzy - half-formed, misty even - but everything important in this moment was inside with me.

I lifted down my hood. My backpack was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't important because Edythe was on the seat next to me. Her clothes were sopping wet, her hair bedraggling down her shoulders, her eyes intense and dark and fixed on mine. She followed my gaze as it traced her pointed chin, followed a drop of water down to her collarbone, the collar of her dress, the daisy perfectly outlining -

I took a deep, shuddering breath and closed my eyes.

"Bella?" Her voice was soft, close. I detected the telltale creaking and clicking of her joints as she moved closer, and suddenly a waft of cool air touched my nose. "Bella, it's okay."

A cold, firm hand took mine, and suddenly it was being moved from my lap up, out, to touch -

My eyes flew open. Edythe's were mere inches from mine, black as pitch and twisted into an expression of frustration, concentration, and something else I didn't recognize.

I tightened my hand, took over from the cold one like a vise on mine and moved it against her body, against the breast she'd pressed it to. I found a nipple, tight and raised under her wet dress, and lightly brushed my thumb over it. Her eyes rolled back and she released a moan in response.

The sound of her voice, colored with want, made the hair on my arms stand on end. The familiar feeling of horror, of the urge to run, encouraged my heartbeats to multiply and my breath to hitch - or, maybe, this feeling was something only slightly different.

I slid my hand from her breast to the small of her back, pulling her against my body with a thud. She offered no resistance, but knowing her she would've been more than strong enough to stay still. Her eyes, focused once more on mine, slid down to my lips.

"Bella, can I kiss you?"

The words were nothing but air. I answered by leaning in, eyes fluttering shut, and closing my mouth on hers.

She was still for a moment, then became a flurry of movement. She groaned against my lips, then laced her arms around me and up into my hair. Her cool, firm lips moved against mine, nipping, sucking, pulling back for a breath and diving in for more. I returned her fervor in kind - blood rushed to my face and elsewhere, my body growing hot against her slim, wet, cold one. Her hands found my zipper, stripped my jacket from my torso, down my arms, then went for the buttons of my flannel shirt.

I growled and shook her off, keeping an arm braced around her waist and supporting her back. "No - " breath hitched - "Let me."

I pulled away, making room on the wide leather seat, and laid her down on her back. She wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled me to her. Her skirt hiked to her waist.

I sat up, both hands on her legs, drawing the flats of my palms up and down her papery-white thighs. The shadows of her dress hid her hips, her sex, from me, but I knew she wore nothing besides this flimsy wet sundress and thin yellow cardigan. I dragged both palms southward, sliding beneath the dampness of the cotton fabric, until I cupped one firm ass-cheek in each hand.

I fixed my eyes on her, completely still. Seeing her like this - spread out on the seat, her drying hair splayed like a splash of blood, legs spread and eyes dark with hunger - sent all my synapses firing.

"You're beautiful," I whispered.

I caught a glimpse of her face crumpling as I leaned down to take the collar of her dress into my mouth. I pulled it down, finally exposing an alert red nipple, then wrapped my lips around as much of her breast as I could fit. Her skin was cold, and it had no give, but her nipple was obviously sensitive - she bucked against my face, a mewling cry escaping her lips. The taste of her moldering rose scent filled my mouth, almost rancid in its intensity, and beneath it I could smell musk, the need in the shadowed region of her skirt, a smell as familiar to me as that of my own strawberry shampoo.

She liked this.

Her hands scrabbled against my back, pulling at my shirt until it was lifted nearly over my head. I dislodged my mouth from her breast just long enough to let her pull my top off. I hated those few seconds - _any time without that tit on my tongue is wasted_ \- but soon enough she let me take her body back, her left nipple this time.

Her damp dress was cold against my skin. My sports bra felt restrictive in this moment of nakedness, but there was no time, no urgency, to take it off. _The dress though,_ I thought. _It needs to go.  
_

Edythe's mewling cries grew more intense as I nipped at her nipple once, twice, three times. I moved my hands from her ass to the bunched fabric at her waist, clumsily pulling it towards her head. She tried to help by shimmying back and forth, using the friction of the seat against the skin of her back to pull the dress (and the cardigan) up and off.

I lost contact with the nipple again. I sat back up, her clothes clutched in my hands, and just looked at her. She watched me do it, eyes guarded, chest heaving, her hair nearly dry and tangled up under her arms, her face, through the door handle.

I dragged my eyes down from the nipples I'd been so obsessed with, down across the ribs showing through her skin. Down to her perfect, flat belly, her belly-button a tiny pockmark. Down to the swell of her hips, her legs wrapped so tight around me, her legs culminating in a wild, curly, bronzed bush.

She squirmed, then whimpered, her eyes begging. “Please.”

I inched my right hand up the inside of her thigh, sending shivers rippling up my arm. “Please what?”

She ground her hips against my pelvis, pressing her sex to the zipper of my jeans. Her rosy musk grew stronger. “ _Please_ Bella,” she grunted, eyes screwed shut. 

I danced my finger along the porcelain surface of her skin, following the line where her leg met her body. The urge to slide my hand down, to cup her cunt, to slide fingers inside, was almost overpowering.

“Do you want me to touch you?” I said, deathly low. 

She flashed her eyes towards me, enraged and wanting. She spat, “Oh god, yes.”

I dragged all five fingers up and through her bush, savoring how wet it was, how musky. I slid two fingers down over her lips, feeling their coolness and unrelenting firmness. The tip of my index finger barely brushed the hood of her clit. 

Edythe thrashed, hips twitching, hands buried in her own mess of hair. Unearthly cries ripped from her throat - “oh god please, Bella, touch me, fuck me with your hand, god - ” and it took all I had to continue teasing her. I wanted to give her everything she asked for, kiss her, fuck her, love her until she broke. 

I slid my left hand up her body to grasp her breast, tweak her nipple, and rise to her throat. Her eyes widened but she gave it to me, lifting her head to meet me.

”Bella,” she rasped, as much as her low, velvety voice was capable of rasping. “I’m begging you.” 

I returned her desperate gaze with a satisfied one. My hands were frozen on her throat and on her clit - she was mine, utterly broken, desperate for me. Exactly how I wanted her.

I positioned my fingers over her wet slit, sending shivers through Edythe’s body with every millimeter of her skin I touched. I locked eyes with her again, pausing, relishing the desperation, frustration, and fear in her eyes, before thrusting my fingers home - 

* * *

"Bella?"

I jerked awake with a snort, sending _Inkheart_ to the floor. "Mmmyeah? Huh?"

Charlie crossed the room and picked up my book, returning it to my hand with a smile. "Feeling any better? It's about noon. You've been asleep for a while."

"Oh." I squinted out the window. The clouds had returned, but it was almost imperceptibly lighter out.

Charlie smiled again, grunted, and rose, grabbing my melted ice-pack on the way out. "I'll let you get your bearings. If you're feeling well enough we can go down to the diner and get some grub."

He didn't wait for a response - I heard my door click shut again. I sighed, reassembling the bits and pieces of my dream, feeling my face grow hot the more I remembered.


	7. Morose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella meets the rest.

The next day, Tuesday, couldn't go fast enough. People (mostly Jessica) were fussing over me, begging for details on the rescue - "was she fast? I didn't even see her!" - and my subsequent survival. All I could do was fend them off the best I could with, "Yeah, her reflexes were amazing," and "I'm fine, I promise!" over... and over... and over again.

Tyler wouldn't let up, unlike most of the others. He was released from the hospital with stitches in his scalp and a concussion, but otherwise was unharmed. His ego, however, had taken a huge hit, and to remedy it he followed me everywhere.

I wanted to kick him in the neck.

By lunchtime my nerves were frazzled to the core. My guts were jumping into my throat with every breath at the thought of seeing _her_ , knowing what I knew. It also didn't help that I'd dreamed of touching her, kissing her, taking her nipple into my mouth...

"Um, Bella?"

I glanced up from my shoes. Jessica stood next to me in line for food, and she was frowning towards the Cullens' corner. "It looks like Edythe wants you."

My eyes drew to hers like magnets. She was sitting at her family's table still, but there was an extra seat beside her. She smiled, the freckled hills of her cheeks rising to her dark eyes, and gestured at the chair she'd drawn up... for me?

I grabbed the first things I could at the lunch line - an apple and a slice of pizza - and paid. My feet then led me to the Cullens' table, despite Jessica's huffs and whines. I was painfully aware of all their dark eyes fixed on me as I approached.

"Do you guys... mind?" I said. I avoided Edythe's gaze.

The thin boy - Jasper, I recalled - smiled at me. The hollows of his eyes were particularly dark, and there almost seemed to be cracks around his mouth.

"We'd love it if you sat with us, Bella," he said. His voice had the humming quality of a cello.

I gripped my tray of food tightly and plopped into my seat. It felt as if every eye in the cafeteria was concentrated on my back, but I didn't dare look. Instead, I smiled at the five pairs of eyes looking at me at the table and took a bite of my pizza.

Edythe picked at her food. She seemed particularly fascinated with picking the skin off of every single wedge of her orange. I pretended I wasn't looking at her.

"So - Bella!" the tiny black-haired girl chirped. Alice, I recalled. "Edythe tells us you're from Arizona?"

I blinked. "Yeah! Um... it's warm there. Obviously. Uh, I moved here to be with Charlie. Chief Swan."

"It's okay, we know," Alice said. There was nothing but kindness in the statement.

The blonde one - Rosalie - seemed disinterested, but at a nudge from Alice she cleared her throat. "So, uh... do you like fly fishing?"

"Rose," Edythe said in a low voice. A glance informed me that her eyes were fixed quizzically on her sister.

Rosalie was more luminous than the rest. While the Cullens' skin seemed generally ashy, pale, and dry, Rosalie glowed with an indescribable beauty. Her hair, while fragile-looking, had more color and life, and her suspiciously narrowed eyes didn't look as bruised.

"I um... I've never been fly fishing," I said. I took another bite of my pizza and glanced at Edythe out of the corner of my eye. "But I'd be interested in trying it out!"

Rosalie scoffed, but reigned it in after receiving an elbow jab from Jasper on her left side.

The big one, Emmett, was closest to my left. He seemed to be almost vibrating with nervous, boisterous energy.

"I could teach you!" he blurted.

His voice was almost too loud, too thrilled, at the prospect. I was flattered by his eagerness.

"I'd like that," I assured him.

He beamed at me. "Jasper and Alice don't care for it really, but Rose and I go almost every weekend. There's a great spot near the creek by our house."

"Oh yeah?" My curiosity peaked. "Do you live here in town?"

"Nah." Jasper chuckled, as if at an inside joke. "Esme likes the country life. We're about five miles or so north of here."

"She doesn't like the... smell of town." Rosalie said.

I smiled and shrugged. "I didn't really notice that Forks smelled, but to each their own."

After that I realized, with dread, that I'd run out of words. They all just looked at me, like I was some kind of novel item, and the pressure to live up to the hype turned me into a boring lump.

So, I did what any other disaster introvert would do - I picked up my pizza and took another bite.

In any other setting, that would signal for others to start eating too. Regular people, that is. The Cullens, however, just continued to stare. A few of them (Alice, Edythe, and Emmett) had the good grace to at least pick at their food, but none actually looked at the meals on their trays, much less eat any of it. Edythe had already ripped her orange slices to shreds, and now was only poking seeds around in the juice.

Strange.

Edythe shifted in her seat, and a waft of dusty rose met my nose. My brain flashed back to my dream, how strong that smell had been when I parted her knees -

"Bella, would you like to come fly fishing with us this weekend?" she asked, as if she'd been holding her breath. "You know, since my _dear_ siblings forgot to actually invite you."

Rosalie directed a glare towards Edythe's that was strong enough to combust jet fuel, but Edythe didn't seem to notice. She didn't even look at me - just focused on the orange seeds she was chasing on her plate.

I nearly said yes, my heart in my throat, but then I remembered.

"I actually committed to going to La Push beach this weekend with Mike Newton and the rest of them," I said, letting regret color my voice. "But I think I'm free Sunday?"

"We go to church on Sundays," Rosalie said, but received another elbow from Jasper.

"That would be perfect," Jasper said warmly. "Let us pick you up?"

Edythe's head snapped up, but she didn't say anything.

"Sure! Don't see why not," I said, finishing off my pizza. "Thank you for being so accommodating."

Alice grinned hugely. "Our pleasure. What's your - "

It took me a beat before I realized that her smile had frozen, drooped, and her eyes had gone out of focus. Rosalie picked up on it and gently rubbed her shoulder.

"She gets like this," Rosalie said, her voice fiercely protective. "Docto-Mom thinks they're seizures."

And just like that, Alice was back. Her smile resumed with the same intensity as before, and she continued speaking as though no time had passed.

" - your address?"

Emmett nudged me, and I closed my mouth. "Oh! Um, 184 South 6th Street. Only a few blocks from the school."

"Perfect! We'll see you then."

As if she'd timed it, Alice finished speaking just as the bell rang. They were all on their feet faster than I could register the sound, but Edythe lingered behind as her siblings went ahead. Waiting for me.

"Come on," she said with a smile, finally turning to look at me. "I'll walk you to class."


	8. Manage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella and Edythe talk it out.

Walking with Edythe felt different from before. There was the knowledge there that she'd saved me, that she knew I knew she was... wrong, different. There was also the knowledge I hadn't told anyone.

At least, _I_ knew I hadn't. Edythe didn't have that luxury. No wonder she seemed fidgety.

On the way out of the caf, Edythe was wiping her fingers free of orange pulp with what looked like a napkin. A closer look showed a frayed, dingy embroidered handkerchief. In one corner was a halo of tiny yellow flowers and a blue "E.M."

"I like your hanky," I said quietly. _Ugh. Words are hard._

"Words _are_ hard," she laughed, then sobered. "Thanks. I keep it from before - before I was with the Cullens. It was my mom's."

I looked at it more intently. "What was her name?"

"Elizabeth." Edythe's voice hitched, and she reached out a hand a little too quickly to catch the cafeteria door after the last person exiting. "Her name was Elizabeth Masen," she went on, "and she was my best friend. Mothers can so often just be strict, but she was gentle and kind."

She kept her face turned from me. The ruckus of the other students gave her a little privacy, but we soon fell behind. She finally drew a shuddering breath and smiled. "I'm sorry - "

"Don't be," I cut her off. "Thank you for sharing with me. You didn't need to explain."

She looked at me, finally, for the first time that day. Her eyes were like beetles in her face, but her smile glowed. "I always want to explain to you. Like I wish I could explain about the ice, the car, everything."

Guilt surged in me. "Oh my god, Edythe, I never did thank you for that. You were there and I was gone and I was frustrated but - but I want you to know that I didn't tell anyone, not a damn thing - "

She gripped my wrist and my words stopped in my throat. She just gave it a quick squeeze, her fingers firm and cold, and released.

* * *

 We were studying onion cells in Biology that day. We whizzed through identifying them together - I, because I'd already done this exercise in Phoenix, and Edythe, because she was just that damn smart apparently - and completed long before the others. We leaned back in our seats, confident in our assessments of the slides, and listened to the mumbling of our fellow students for a moment.

"Thank you," Edythe said suddenly, very quiet.

I started, surprised. "What for?"

"I don't know - not asking too many questions, I guess. I'm sure you're bursting with them."

I examined the side of her face, which was curtained by her wild hair. She was wearing a brown cabled sweater today over high-waisted jeans, and her slim feet were tucked into well-loved oxford flats.

"I dunno, I guess I kinda like trying to figure it out myself," I said, finally.

She breathed, then, as if she was holding it. "What, like it's some big mystery? I'm... odd. My family is odd. Everyone looks at us like we're aliens, but for some reason you look at us like we're puzzles."

"Is that... bad?"

"No!" she exclaimed in a breathy whisper, her head snapping to face me. Her eyes were earnest pools of black. "It's refreshing, believe me! I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"You're not the only one," I laughed wryly, almost to myself.

Her eyes were quizzical now. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged one shoulder. "Eh... I guess I'm still perplexed that you're still willing to hang out with me? Like, at first you seemed to hate me, then I overheard you trying to arrange your schedule to match mine, then I hugged you in my truck and you yelled at me, then you _saved_ me and swore me to secrecy... I'm just suffering from a little whiplash is all. I don't know what the big deal is, and it feels like there's some huge secret you're just waiting for me to figure out."

Her eyes felt like lasers on my cheek. I sighed.

"We're just people," I went on. "Nothing crazy about that. Nothing complicated about that. So let's maybe go fly-fishing and drop the mystery a bit?"

She chuckled a little, and I braved a glance at her face. It was light again, her freckles standing out against her skin, the apples of her cheeks rising to meet her eyes in a smile.

"Sure," she said, "Let's. Nothing complicated about it at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry y'all. Life got away from me. Thank you for waiting. <3


End file.
